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How well do you understand your Hispanic employee?
Take our quiz and find out!
1. Eighty percent of U.S. Hispanics are of Mexican ancestry. Mexican cultural norms are influenced by the communal traditions of indigenous (Native American) societies. In these cross-cultural communication traditions, high-context cultures:
- Value experience and performance
- Make agreements on the basis of general trust
- Like efficient negotiations
- Like to get down to business right away.
2. A policy that bars communications in languages other than English during work hours, including breaks and lunch periods, may be considered illegal because:
- English is not the official language of the United States.
- Employees should enjoy freedom of expression.
- Lunch periods and breaks are considered paid time.
- Language is a proxy for national origin and discrimination based on national origin is illegal.
3. One of the more successful strategies to ensure that Hispanic employees stay with an organization is:
- Cash incentives to learn English.
- Corporate role models and mentoring programs.
- Constant and structured feedback on performance.
- Pizza parties when goals are achieved.
4. Among Hispanic hourly employees, company uniforms:
- Are seen as repressing their individuality
- Are acceptable only if they are required by union rules
- Are desirable, for they are seen as part of an emblem of group cohesion
- Are of value-neutral, seen with indifference
5. Most Latin American immigrants in senior management positions respond favorably to:
- Extra vacation time to visit family in their countries of origin
- Company-sponsored classes to eliminate accents
- The ability to make presentations in either English or Spanish
- Health care benefits that include long term care for elderly parents.
6. Non-Hispanic managers often report frustration that when speaking to non-salaried Hispanic workers on a plant floor, workers will look down or away, making it difficult for the manager to understand if the meaning of his or her instructions or comments are being fully understood. Hispanics will avert direct eye contact:
- Because Hispanics can concentrate on understanding spoken English by looking down and “seeing” with their ears
- Because, as is often the case, non-Hispanic managers tend to speak to them to reprimand them, and they are embarrassed
- Because Hispanic workers will avert their eyes when spoken to if they have been treated poorly in the past
- Because, the less acculturated they are to mainstream American society, the more they revert to traditional cultural practices, one of which is avoiding direct eye contact as a sign of respect.
7. In order to target Hispanic employees, employment brands should include:
- ‘Cool’ or trendy descriptions of work or work environments
- Employment descriptions using terms such as “young,” “dynamic” or “entrepreneurial,” and statements such as “define your own job”
- Job opportunities that do not have clear and defined paths
- Job titles that hold a great deal of weight, especially when designed in a manner that provides a sense of movement towards higher positions.
8. Hispanic employees who are being mentored for management positions often encounter difficulties in expressing themselves in a manner that non-Hispanic colleagues find “authoritative.” This arises from the “language logic” of Standard Written English which progresses in a linear fashion, in which digressions from the main topic are not allowed. Hispanic employees, who grew up in households where Spanish or Portuguese was spoken, struggle with grammar that does not allow for significant narrative digression in formal communications. One strategy HR professionals can use is:
- To refer Hispanic managers to workshops that concentrate on the “Cognitive Constructivism” of Standard Written English
- To develop workshops in which Hispanic managers are taught the “language logic” of Standard Written English, and how to develop narratives that go from point A to point B with minimal deviation
- To initiate discussions with senior managers about the differences between the curvilinear, or associational, nature of Spanish that is at odds with the linear progression of English-language presentations
- To disavow the emphasis on “PowerPoint” presentations as a means for making presentation and conveying information in corporate settings.
9. Hispanic workers are approximately 50% more likely than whites to use contacts, friends or relatives to find a job or other minority groups because:
- Hispanic workers tend to find jobs through networks of family and friends.
- They have difficulty understanding advertisements for jobs.
- Employer-sponsored referral programs generally offer a cash bonus.
- Employees can circumvent normal recruitment processes.
10. “Hispanic” is more inclusive than “Latino” because:
- More organizations have “Hispanic” in their names than “Latino”
- There are more Hispanics, since Brazilians are also Hispanic
- “Latino” refers only to U.S.-born Hispanics
- While every “Latino” is a “Hispanic,” not every “Hispanic” is a “Latino”.
11. Although organizations spend significant amounts on formal training, research suggests that informal relationship-based learning such as mentoring serves as the most consistently powerful source of workforce performance because:
- It serves to quickly connect the employee to the organization from the start of the employee’s career.
- Employees can make friends quickly in the workplace.
- Mentors are usually people in positions of influence.
- Mentors can represent the interests of new employees to management.
12. Sustained immigration from Latin America is creating a fragmented consumer economy in the United States, and a more diversified workforce. One recent phenomenon is the emergence of U.S. Hispanics who are not fluent in Spanish. These Hispanics are called “heritage speakers,” and in the workplace, “heritage speakers” are confronting:
- Fewer obstacles to communicating effectively
- Greater acceptance among non-Spanish speakers in the workplace
- Discrimination from other Hispanics who are hostile to the inability of “heritage speakers” to command Spanish
- More success in assimilating in mainstream American society, and as a result, advance more rapidly in their careers.
Answers:
Question 1: B
Question 2: D
Question 3: B
Question 4: C
Question 5: B
Question 6: D
Question 7: A
Question 8: B
Question 9: A
Question 10: D
Question 11: A
Question 12: C
Scoring:
11 or 12 correct answers: You are well informed about Hispanic employees
8-10 correct answers: You are knowledgeable about Hispanic employees, but could be more informed to be a better HR practitioner
7 or fewer correct answers: You need to improve your understanding of Hispanics and Hispanic culture to be an effective HR practitioner
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